Cable and box connecter



J. A. VLK, .JR

CABLE AND Box CONNECTER Filed Jan. 4, 1921 fla..

Patented Feb. 3, 1925.

lUNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH A. VOLK, JB., OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO THE VECO MFG. COMPANY,

A CORPORATION E CONNECTICUT.

CABLE AND Box eoNNEe'rEn.

Application led January 4, 1921. Serial No. 434,946.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, JOSEPH A. VOLK, r., a citizen of the United States of America, residing 'at the city of New York, county and State of New.York, have mvented a new and useful Cable and Box Connecter, of which the iollowing is a specification..

invention relates toa new and 1mproved connecter for connecting armored electric cables with receptacles and boxes. `Broadly speaking, the construction almsto lock on to the cable andon to the box, said locking action being effected by the mere act of assembly.

. In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation, partly 1n sec tion, of my invention in place.

, Fig. 2 is a plan view of the connecter shown in Fig. 1, said view being partly 1n section.

Fig. 3 is a rear end elevation of the parts shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

Fig. 4 is a section on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3. l t

Fig. 5 is a plan view of a modificatlon partly broken away and in section.

Fig. 6 is a rear end elevation of another modification.

Fig. 7 is a side view of a modiiicatlon shown in Fig. 6.

Fig. 8 is a longitudinal section of another modification.l

I have shown my invention in various preferred forms, which I will now proceed to describe. V

In the :formY shown in Figs. 1 to- 4, the connecter comprises two channel shaped pieces 1 2, each of said pieces having an outwardly directed flange at one end as indicated at 3, 4 res ectively. Each of said pieces also prefera ly has an inwardly directed ilange shown respectively at 5, 6 Vto form internal abutments. The pieces are so constructed as to 'partake of a rocking action, for example, the adjacent edges of each of the pieces may be shaped as indicated in Fig. 4 so that they will rock on each other, and the edges may likewise be provided with overlapping, interlocking, alternating lugs 7--7 shown in Fig. 1, which operate to keep the pieces 1-2 in alignment when placed together. 8--8 are external abutment shoulders preferably formed by striking out the metal so that said shoulders will have a yielding or snap action. The ends of these shoulders are spaced away from the rear side of the anges 3-4 approximately the thickness of the metal of the box wall 9 with which the connecter is to be associated.- 10-1O are clamping screws or bolts which are provided to draw the rear ends of the sections 1--2 toward each other. 11 represents a piece of armored electric cable.

In operation, the two parts 1-2 of the connecter are placed together and slipped through the usual opening in the wall 9, the smaller or contracting end being so shaped or proportioned that it may passed freely therethrough. The two pieces are then pushed bodily into the position shown in Fig. 1. The larger end of the connecter is designed to nearly fill the opening in the wall; 9 before said end is expanded. In pressing the connecter into its-home position, the edge of the opening in which the connecter stands will line up with the space-in front of the cooking shoulders 8 8. The armored cable is then pushed into place in the rear end of the connecter. The clamping screws 10-10 are then applied, and the rear ends of the connecter sections are clamped down on the cable. This movement results in not only gripping the cable tightly in place, but it tilts the two sections 1-2 in such a manner as to cause the outer end to expand andfit tightly in the passage in the wall 9. By this simple expedient, eiective connections may be quickly and easily made.

It will be evident that the yielding characterl .of my device, due to the fact that itis made .of sheet metal, will permit any given size of the device to be used with and to be clamped securely upon cables of various diameters in spite of the fact that the hole in which the other end of the device is expanded remains the same.

In the modifications shown in Fig. 5 ol the drawing, the main diiference over the construction shown in Fig. 1 is in the formation of the abutment and flange at the. outer end of the connecter. In Fig. l, the abutment 6 is formed by'making an inward fold in the metal, while the flange 4 is formed by extending outwardly one of these folds. In Fig. 5 the fold is made on the outside and forms the ange 4, while the extreme edge projecting from the fold extends inwardly to form the abutment 6,

In other words, it shows that because the device is made Aof sheet metal, the outer end of each section may be folded inwardly or outwardly as referred.

In the modi cation shown in Figs. 6 and 7 instead of making the connecter of two separate channeled pieces, I construct it of practically one piece 7 slitted on one side, but otherwise operating substantially as shown in Fig. 1. In this instance the edges of the slitted side are so shaped that a single clamping bolt 10"L will cause the outer end to expand and the inner end to contract and engage the cable.

In the modification shown in Fig. 8, I so construct the device that the cable itself acts as the fulcrum on which the connecter pieces 1-2 tilt. In this modification these sections are each provided with inwardly directed bearings 14-15 respectively, which may be formedby transversely corrugating the metal. These bearings lllare arranged intermediate the ends of the sections 1 and 2, and are so proportioned as to take a bearing on the surface of the armored cable 11vin such a manner that they will tilt thereon. These connecter pieces may otherwise be 'substantially the same as the other forms herein described with the result that when the rear end of the sections 1-2 are drawn down the outer ends will be expanded to tightly engage the box. In this case an additional clamping action may be had on the cable by reason of the engagement of the portions 14:-15 therewith.

The indented portions forming the bearings 14, 15 tend to grip into the grooves in the cable lcovering when the screws are tightened down. The particular form and location of these gripping indentations may be modified at will, so far as concerns the gripping function solely. When, however, they are to act as fulcrums upon which the sections are to tilt, they would naturally be located substantially as shown in Fig. 8.

I claim:

A connecter adapted to operatively connect an electrical cable to a box, said connecter comprising opposed channel-shaped members fulcrumed intermediate their ends to have a relative rocking motion in opposite directions, said members at one end being adapted to engage by expansion the periphery of a hole in said box, and means for clamping together said members at the other end upon an electrical cable, said members being made of sheet metal permitting them to be clamped together upon said cable in spite of the fact that the hole in the box prevents their opposite ends from being further eX anded.

J SEPI-I A. VOLK, JR. 

